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During the late nineteenth century, urbanization prompted mass migrations of
southerners to cities. This caused crowding within the cities and soon sanitation became
an issue. Despite the problems, it was not until the last two decades of the 1800's that
cities started addressing this problem. However, once it started in one city, others started
following suit. Portsmouth was one of these cities...

The Mayor and Common Council of Annapolis declared a by-law to prevent the firing of guns within the city limits. The Mayor first informed the citizens of Annapolis on the by-law in an article published in the local paper, The Maryland Gazette, on March 25, 1824. The article permitted a week long period of time for news of the by-law to reach the people of Annapolis before the Common Council planned...

The Republican Star and General Advertiser of Easton, Maryland printed an article titled Citizens, Beware of Counterfeiters on March 25, 1817. The article informed the people of Easton that there is a gang of villains now in our borough, who are endeavoring to further a scheme of the most diabolical swindling, by putting into circulation Counterfeit Notes of 50 and 20 on the Union Bank of Maryland....

The Republican Star and General Advertiser of Easton, Maryland published an article on August 12, 1829 regarding Indian removal. The Easton article responded to the essay written by William Penn published in The National Intelligencer of Washington on July 17, 1829. Penn's essay discussed the need to exterminate the Indians in order to allow for expansion into the West. The article in the Easton newspaper...

A woman identifying herself only as T.S. wrote a letter to the Ladies' Home Journal to express sympathy for another reader, Janet, who had complained of feelings of loneliness and desolation during the winter months in the Sea Islands off of South Carolina. The letter writer explains that she came to South Carolina by way of Vermont and Pennsylvania, and that the level salt marshes with the water oozing...

Deep in the iron-rich north central region of Alabama, industry was booming. The owners of Murray and Stephenson ironworks in Anniston took the huge step of enlarging their foundry, allowing for bigger commissions and higher production rates. They had negotiated with the managers of the Alabama Car Works for a contract for enough work for the next eight months.
Over at the engine works of Pender and...

During the winter of 1897-1898, a severe drought hit the city of Charleston. There was no rain for over a month and the city's wells and cisterns began to run dry. For Charleston's white population, who understood the principles of hygiene and clean water, this resulted in only two fatalities. For the poor, uneducated African Americans of Charleston, the drought caused a great deal of illness and twenty...

Economic change was slow to come to the former Confederacy after the Civil War. Although railroads began to crisscross New South cities like Atlanta, dependence on an agricultural way of life made the cities of the South less likely sites of industrial development than their Northern counterparts. This impeded development was only further hindered by the outbreak of Yellow Fever in Montgomery, New...

A letter arrived for Jerry Hyland of Warrenton, Mississippi as the year 1875 began. The letter, from a friend Emma S., commenced with the usual pleasantries before expressing dismay that earlier correspondence had not made its way into Hyland's possession. I am surprised to learn that my last letter to you, written in November, failed to reach you- I have forgotten who mailed it for me wrote Emma,...

In 1832, Sophia Hunt, a Democrat living in Woodville, Mississippi, received a letter from her father in South Carolina describing the recent crisis of his state. The Nullification Crisis threatened to hurl South Carolina into warfare with the rest of the country. In her November 4 reply, Sophia expressed her sorrow upon hearing this news, as well as her doubt that South Carolina would be successful...